Anat Kah Recaps 2012

December
2012

Dear
friends and
neighbors,

This
year has flown
by, and Anat
Kah has
continued to
support
the community
of Puerto
Aventuras
through its
programs,
scholarships
and grants
to local
organizations.
We'd like to
take this
opportunity to
tell you a
little about
what we have
been up to!

To
respond to a
growing need
for creative
spaces for
children in
the local
public schools
that are
devoid of arts
curricula, in
early 2012
Anat Kah
hosted and
coordinated a
teacher
training
program, Programa
Día, for 17
elementary
school
teachers from
the Puerto
Maya primary
school.The
program, which
has had much
success in
bringing art
education to
hundreds of
schools around
Mexico,
exposes
the teachers
to the Programa
Día
philosophy
which
incorporates
art and
creativity
into the
classroom at
least
once a week,
with a
structured
program
featuring
Mexican art
and artists,
in
particular.Each
teacher who
participated
received a
copy
of the
curriculum to
use in their
classroom, and
we hope to
follow the
course up with
another
workshop next
year.

Hermanitos
Puerto
Aventuras is our
longest
running
program, and
after almost 4
years, it's
still going
strong, as you
can see in the
pictures
above.Program
coordinator
Luz Laurent
writes:

Every Tuesday when we arrive
at the
ludoteca, the
children are
sitting
against the
wall waiting
for us, they
look very
excited and
happy to see
us. One of
the
big hermanos
is responsible
for explaining
the activities
to the
children, and
show them the
material we
will use (it
is amazing how
they get
excited when
they see a
bottle of play
– doh, for
example.)
After the big
hermano
explains the
activities
they all go
with their
hermanito (a)
and start with
the activity.

We usually do something inside
of the
building with
them,
sometimes we
do water
painting,
other times we
color
with markers
(they don´t
have markers
so they get
really happy
to be able to
use them with
us!) other
times we play
with the
play–doh or we
do table games
according to
their age.
Then, the
second
part of the
day we always
go outside the
building where
they have a
little yard
and the big
hermanos play
with the
hermanitos all
together, they
play soccer,
they play
baseball; it
doesn´t really
matter what
they play, the
little ones
love to play
with the big
hermanos.

The students from Colegio Puerto Aventuras
high school
are doing a
great job.
They are
really
involved with
their
Hermanitos.

Hermanitos
runs
entirely on
donations from
Anat Kah as
well as from
support from
Colegio Puerto
Aventuras,
which
coordinates
the Hermanitos
holiday party
and gift
collection
for the
children and
their families
each year.

The
Poblado of
Puerto
Aventuras has
seen great
population
growth over
the past
several years.
Related to
that, the
community has
seen growing
crime rates,
and more and
more children
and youth are
becoming
involved in
delinquent
activities.
The school
day is very
short, and
most parents
work, leaving
children on
their own for
up to 8 hours
a day.
Because of
that, Anat Kah
has made a
concerted
effort to
support
extracurricular
programs that
provide
opportunities
for children
to learn and
excel in a new
activity, and
be in a safe
environment
for at least a
few of those
hours each
day.

We
have continued
to support
the Puerto
Aventuras
sailing club on
a monthly
basis, a grant
that benefits
the program's
scholarship
fund for
low-income
students with
good grades
who want to
participate in
sailing, but
could not
afford to
without
support. The
sailing club
has shown
outstanding
results over
the past two
years,
particularly
by scholarship
students, and
this October
participated
in the North
American
Sailing
Championships
in Valle de
Bravo, Mexico.
Participation
in this club
has fostered
leadership,
teamwork and
self-esteem
among many
young people
from the
Poblado of
Puerto
Aventuras, and
has given them
access
opportunities
to meet people
and see places
that they
might not have
otherwise been
able to meet
and see
without
support from
people like
you.

In
2012, after
school
activity
scholarships
were provided
by Anat Kah to
10 children
with
qualifying
grades (90% or
higher
average) so
that they
could
participate on
the local
youth soccer
team or in
after school
dance
classes. The
scholarship
program
provides a
portion of the
monthly
payment, paid
directly to
the teacher,
and expects
the families
to pay the
other part,
encouraging
parental
commitment to
their child's
activities.
We would like
to expand this
program for
2013
to allow
greater
participation
(grades
permitting!),
as there are
many children
who are
interested in
participating

Along
those same
lines, we
continue to
support the “Casa
del Arte”
program which
gives art
classes to
youth and
women in the
Poblado
several days a
week,
providing them
with creative
skills
that can be
translated
into economic
benefits as
they hope to
form
connections
with local
merchants who
can sell their
stained glass,
wood and other
art
projects to
locals and
tourists
alike. Due
to
difficulties
securing a new
space to work
this fall, the
classes will
restart
in January,
and the
teacher hopes
to engage up
to 20
students.

As
many of you
may know, Friends
of Puerto
Aventuras
and Puerto
Aventuras
Educators
have now
merged into
one
organization, Friends
of Puerto
Aventuras,
consolidating
the provision
English
classes for
adults and
children in
the Poblado
into one
organization.
We will soon
begin
providing
funds to pay
the
salary of
their adult
English
teacher who
gives classes
to
approximately
30
local adults
each week. We
hope to
extend our
support to
FOPA over the
next few
months, as the
classes that
they
provide to the
adults and
children of
Puerto
Aventuras, as
well as the
scholarship
support that
they give to
eligible young
people to
attend
university,
are invaluable
to our
community.

Colegio
del Mar
is a new,
privately-funded
educational
center in the
Poblado of
Puerto
Aventuras, and
in late 2012
Anat Kah
provided its
first grant to
them, in the
form of three
scholarships
for
financially
eligible
children to
attend
preschool.
The school
was founded
with working
families
of the Poblado
in mind,
offering
childcare from
6:30 am to
6:30 pm each
weekday
and preschool
from 7:45 am
to 2 pm. A
nutritious
breakfast and
lunch are
served to all
children, and
art and sports
activities are
offered
daily. The
school
is located on
the main road
heading in to
the Poblado,
and they
welcome guests
who are
interested in
learning more
to stop by!

In
2013 we plan
to continue to
support
children,
women and
other local
projects in a
meaningful
way.
Please
consider a
donation to
Anat Kah as
part of your
year-end
giving; if you
would like for
your gift to
go
to one of the
above projects
in particular,
please let us
know. Also,
if you know of
another
philanthropic
venture that
we should be
supporting in
Puerto
Aventuras, let
us know about
it!